Of snow storms and cocoa
by striginesensibility
Summary: 2014 Zero Escape Secret Santa drabble. Christmas college AU. Junpei is dismayed to discover that his friends are not sufficiently in the Christmas spirit.


So this was actually written for the 2014 Zero Escape Secret Santa, and I just remembered it. It's now neither Christmas nor 2014, but I figured it was better immortalized here than the bowels of tumblr or my dropbox.

Christmas college AU. Request was for Santa/Junpei shippy things. Probably super OOC. +1 for witty dialogue, -3 for the fact that I am apparently incapable of writing long, elaborate scenes. I'm an engineer man... I don't do well with ~wordy~.

Anyway here's this drabble.

* * *

Junpei Tenmyouji, champion pizza eater and master of puns, decided that trudging through a blizzard might not have been one of his better ideas. Granted he should probably have seen this weather coming, but it had been 40 degrees yesterday! How was he supposed to know it would go from that to full-on-Category-5-white-out-shit-storm over night?

He hiked the collar of his vest closer to his neck as he continued his meandering trek across campus. He wished he had his winter coat. Or an arctic parka.

Aoi had better be damn grateful that Junpei hadn't canceled their plans—but then again, one does not simply not watch Game of Thrones, whether or not winter is actually coming. (Or in Junpei's case: arrived. With gusto.)

He'd met the Kurashikis, among others, last winter during the worst class he had ever or would ever be forced to take. Junpei wasn't entirely sure how "Logic and Morphogenesis" had ended up in the course requirements for international business—or for that matter in the requirements for marketing, music, art, forensics, youth psychology, criminal justice, biology, AND computer engineering—but who was he to question the system.

The class had literally—like, _literally-literally_ , not _figuratively-literally_ —almost killed them, so naturally those who survived to the end of the semester without dropping (or being hospitalized—Junpei still couldn't believe that one guy had managed to almost blow himself up, really) became pretty fast friends.

Aoi and Akane shared an apartment on the other side of campus in a building that housed mostly art students. Junpei made his way through the halls to a door emblazoned with "CRASH KEYS" in a violent array of colors.

Akane answered the door at his knock. She was wearing her trademark innocent grin and a purple dress that did excellent things for her hips.

"Jumpy you look like a snowman!"

"Hi Kany. I'll try to leave most of it out here," he said with a laugh. He brushed the snow from his hair and entered their apartment.

Aoi sat cross-legged in the middle of the couch, his computer on his lap queuing up the episode. His bleach white hair was covered in paint and he looked like he hadn't slept properly in a week. "Get in here asshole. You're like half an hour late."

Junpei leveled Aoi a stormy stare, and in his best Ned Stark voice—"Finals are coming."

"Hilarious."

"Okay but it's not my fault I'm late. In case you seem to have lost your windows, it's kind of snowing outside."

He toed out of his sneakers at the doorway, grimacing at the clumps of snow already melting into the welcome mat.

In the worst stage whisper known to man, Akane explained: "Santa's not been out of his workshop aaaall weekend. His 2D media portfolio is due on Wednesday and he didn't start early"—she smacked Aoi square in the face with a throw pillow—"like he was supposed to!"

The two of them sat down on the couch on either side of Aoi. He promptly whapped the pillow against the back of Akane's head and pushed the space bar on his laptop. "I told you! You can't rush art! Or alternatively, you could spend all semester playing Destiny with a certain ass-hat and then BS your final project and call it art. But my point still stands."

The Game of Thrones theme filled the apartment, and Junpei glanced around briefly. His eyebrows knit together as he noticed a certain lack of twinkling lights and red. He reached out and paused the show.

"Hey wait a minute," he said, gesturing around the room and its decided lack of holiday cheer. "It's like December 17th. Why is the apartment of the self-proclaimed 'Santa of the Lecture Halls' not yet decorated, with a nary more than a week left to the big day?"

"Uh… I've been working on my project? Did you miss that part? And you say this like your apartment is already decorated."

"Dude. I never took that shit down last year. My halls have been decked since December 26th."

"Jumpy, I'm not sure that's something to be proud of," Akane leaned forward around her brother to give Junpei a concerned look. "Don't you ever clean?"

"How did this turn into me having a problem."

Aoi put his hands over both of their mouths. "It is time for tits, sex, and power struggles. You can criticize the lack of festivities later."

Later turned out to be Monday morning.

"I should have kicked you out last night."

"You would have sent me out to die in a blizzard."

"Yes."

"I'm appalled. And I thought we truly had something special. Did our near-death experience mean so little to you that you'd send me out to die alone!"

Junpei slapped a hand against his chest as if to hold together his broken heart. Aoi returned the theatrics with an unamused stare.

"Okay, all joking aside, thanks for letting me crash last night, man. "

"You owe me. Like…quadruple owe-age for dragging me along for this." He continued to glare at Junpei, but grabbed another box of Christmas lights off the shelf. Junpei wasn't sure that Aoi even realized that he'd tossed them into the cart.

"Yeah, yeah, Santa. I know you've got your project to finish. I'll pay for all of this stuff; does that count to my debt? And you don't even have to help decorate. Akane said she wanted help me—which I guess is a good thing, since I'm not actually Santa and breaking into other peoples' residences without the big red suit is kind of frowned upon. She said you've pretty much done every other Christmas for her, right?"

Aoi hummed in affirmative. "Every year since our parents died. Did she tell you about the letters? I used to play Santa for her—I'd save up all year to buy her whatever she wrote on her letter to the North Pole. That wasn't even my favorite part though."

They'd stopped walking through the glittering aisles of Christmas. Aoi leaned against the shelves, a genuine smile appearing on his tired face. "I used to do up the whole house overnight. We'd go to bed on Christmas Eve, and by morning I'd have all these lights strung up everywhere and our dinky ass little tree smack-dab in the middle of the living room. Seeing her face on Christmas morning when she woke up was even more worth it than making her happy with the present.

"So, yeah, usually I don't actually decorate that much beforehand. It kinda stuck even after she caught on to me. Eventually it got to the point where we'd put some stuff up, but it's always been the whole she-bang right before Christmas, you know?"

"That's actually pretty awesome, Aoi. You're a rad big brother—I know Akane appreciates everything you do for her." Junpei threw an arm around his friend's shoulder. "But hey, you've got a final to get done. I'll finish up here and give Kany a call to see what she wants to do. If we're going to surprise you with Christmas this year, you can't really be around for the preparations, can you?"

"I suppose not."

"You think I'm bluffing. I have my ways. What if I've already told Akane to stock the freezer with snowballs to pelt you with if you try to interfere with our plans? Get your project done, and leave the Christmassing to your little elves this year, Mr. Claus."

"It's perfect!" Junpei stood back from his handiwork and glanced down at his left wrist. "And done in perfect time, too. What time did you say Aoi'd be home?"

"Umm his final was supposed to be done at 6, so he should be here soon!"

Akane looked around the room. Tweaked a paper snowflake chain into place against the window. Reached down to grab her coat off the couch.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Dinner with Yotsuba and Hazuki. This is your surprise! I was just here to help!"

"But our Christmas surprise?"

"This is finals week surprise though, not Christmas. Christmas is my thing this year, and it's gotta wait until Christmas Eve. Besides, it was your idea, so you should be the one doing the surprising."

"—"

"I set out the things for cocoa on the stove. You should probably get cooking if you want it done when Aoi gets here!"

The living room of the Kurashiki apartment was lit only by the glow of Christmas lights strung all around the room. Junpei set two mugs of cocoa on the table just as a key clicked in the lock.

"In your face, Akane! I might not have slept in three days, but I finished and turn that shit in." He shut the door, his eyes widening as he turned around. He hung up his key and leaned against the door.

"Where did you even get that many text books."

Junpei flopped onto the couch with a smug look on his face. "So you approve, Santa of the Lecture Halls? I mean it's not Christmas, technically, but I figured the end of finals merited some decorating."

With Akane's help, Junpei had decked out the whole apartment, including an eight-foot-tall text book tree, complete with lights and ornaments made from leftover homework assignments. They'd also hung lights around the whole living room, and had spent hours cutting paper snowflakes which now adorned every window and door frame.

Aoi laughed. "This is pretty great. Damn, you even made Kany's cocoa? Okay, yes, I approve." He tossed his backpack into his bedroom doorway and then settled onto the couch next to Junpei, grabbing a mug as he sat.

He leaned against Junpei's shoulder. "I'm so glad finals are over, man. Stress about damn killed me this semester, I swear."

Taking a sip of the cocoa, he let his head flop back against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. "Wow. Don't tell Akane, but this might actually be better than her's. Ugh, I might just fall asleep right here."

"Maybe wash the paint out of your hair first."

Aoi cracked an eye open to look at his bangs. Junpei watched Aoi's eyes refocus from strands of white to the tuft of green taped to the ceiling and his eyebrow hike in confusion.

Junpei felt his face heat up, knowing that his cheeks were just as red as Aoi's had become. "Kany's idea… I told her it was stupid. She told me it was festive and hit me with a book. I'll pretend I didn't see it if you wa—"

The mug of cocoa was taken from Junpei's hands; Aoi set both on the coffee table.

"It is festive."

Aoi pressed his lips to Junpei's. He smelled like snow, paint thinner, and peppermint. Blue eyes met brown, and Junpei felt Aoi smile.

Junpei was prepared for the next kiss. He wasn't prepared for Aoi's hand, still cold from being outside, to thread into his hair, thumb brushing over his ear.

"Merry finals week, Junpei."


End file.
